The Pew Research Center, which has a history of surveying the American public about its views on the media, has a new poll out suggesting that to many folks, the NSA leaks scandal doesn't look like much of a scandal.

The poll, co-sponsored by The Washington Post, surveyed 1,004 adults over the weekend and found that more than half of them, 56 percent, felt the NSA's dragnet collection of telephone metadata was "acceptable." Another 41 percent said it was unacceptable, and 2 percent were undecided.

Fully 45 percent of Americans believe the government should "be able to monitor everyone's email to prevent possible terrorism." That's exactly the same percentage that Pew found when it asked the same question 11 years ago, less than one year after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Today, 52 percent said universal email monitoring would be unacceptable, versus 47 percent who believed it was unacceptable in 2002.

News of the NSA leaks dominated news weekend coverage. Politicians weighed in on the issue during the Sunday news shows, and late Sunday The Guardianpublished the identity of the leaker, former NSA employee Edward Snowden. But the Pew poll seems to indicate that what resonates with the press isn't necessarily resonating with the public.

The results show some variance by age group. Poll respondents aged 18 to 39 are the most concerned about government privacy intrusions: 40 percent say the government should steer clear of privacy violations even if that limits the ability to go after terrorists, as opposed to 31 percent of those aged 40-64 and 26 percent of those aged 65 and over.

The poll also suggests a partisan bent to view on this issue over time. In 2006, 75 percent of Republicans found it acceptable for the NSA to tap into phones and emails without court approval to prosecute suspected terrorists, while only 52 percent are OK with it now. Similarly, Democrats view today's NSA phone surveillance as acceptable by a margin of 64 percent to 32 percent, whereas back in 2006 Democrats found warrantless NSA snooping unacceptable by a ratio of 61 percent to 36 percent.

Younger people were also the most tuned-out to this weekend's news, with only 16 percent following it closely and 49 percent following it "not at all closely." That compares to 27 percent of middle-aged respondents and 23 percent of older respondents who said they followed "not at all closely."

The poll, co-sponsored by The Washington Post, surveyed 1,004 adults over the weekend and found that more than half of them, 56 percent, felt the NSA's dragnet collection of telephone metadata was "acceptable." Another 41 percent said it was unacceptable, and 2 percent were undecided.

The headline is inaccurate, but the number probably comes from those ok with the government reviewing the telephone metadata and nothing else. This is despite the number used being irrelevant as it is only about the first Verizon leak and not the more important prism leaks. I humbly (ok not so humbly) submit a request that the headline is altered to reflect the truth of the matter, as it is currently simply wrong. Most Americans are worried about govt email tracking according to the survey.

Perhaps the headline should be something more akin to "America divided over gov't phone, email tracking". You know, so you don't sound like you're intentionally trying to enrage people for clicks. Unless...

For all the outrage among my friends that the IRS used keywords to help identify political groups I'm amazed so few people are outraged by the NSA data collection.

I'm certainly still outraged.

Most of the IRS outrage seems to be people feeding a sense of persecution, rather than "government shouldn't be doing that to anyone." There's no specific persecution of anyone here so they can't bring up the righteous indignation. I'm sure if they specifically targeted a group, that group would be absolutely livid now.

The number of people actually mad at the IRS, regardless of party, strikes me as exceedingly small.

Well, that's because people have been taught by the educational system that government is an unrestricted force for good, fairness, etc.

So they see government snooping and they're like, so what? It's not as if the Feds are going to do anything to me, right?

Trouble is, they don't realize the average U.S. person commits 3 felonies per day, so if their government ever thought any given person was... troublesome... it'd be a piece of cake to target that person.

Most Americans spend so much time watching American Idol, they don't have enough imagination left to realize what can (and has) been done when you have this much information about someone.

The new Xbox One is going to have a built-in always on camera. I may be a bit paranoid, but what if the NSA started logging that info? If/when found out, their explanation might be, "You know, because of all those high-school shootings, we need to start making sure the kids playing the first-person-shooter games aren't getting too carried away." And these same tools would go for it.

The infrared camera that can literally tell your emotions and level of excitement - in the dark - and never turns off? That is the very definition of the thought police. Next? If not, what IS next?

Perhaps the headline should be something more akin to "America divided over gov't phone, email tracking". You know, so you don't sound like you're intentionally trying to enrage people for clicks. Unless...

By most I mean most, 52 percent is a majority, we live in a democracy constitutional monarchy where the constitution is regularly ignored, majority is what is supposed to matters when it comes to government.

I was not writing a new headline, I was saying that the current one needs to change.

So where are these people because I haven't met one yet. Every single person I know is outraged with the exception of one die-hard Obama supporter who thinks he can do no evil and wont listen to anything to the contrary.

So how does polling a 1000 people constitute saying that half of all Americans don't care. Nice try on putting a spin on this whole mess.

Polling 1000 people does not create a "spin". It has everything to do with statistical data. The number of respondents needed for a good sample size of a large population tops out at about 1000. That, plus the margin of error can make 45% a "most".

I don't remember which but a Canadian politician got in trouble for saying that Americans were "Loud, fat and ignorant". As an American I should have taken offense but I couldn't because by and large he was correct. This just proves it. And Znerom just to let you know we do not live in a democracy here in the US. It's a republic. We elect officials who we hope will represent us in the government.

Perhaps the headline should be something more akin to "America divided over gov't phone, email tracking". You know, so you don't sound like you're intentionally trying to enrage people for clicks. Unless...

By most I mean most, 52 percent is a majority, we live in a democracy constitutional monarchy where the constitution is regularly ignored, majority is what is supposed to matters when it comes to government.

I was not writing a new headline, I was saying that the current one needs to change.

Before spouting nonsense you might want to know what you are talking about, we ARE NOT a Democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic, but the Left choose to ignore that, they choose to play this majority rules lie instead

Really? I'm fairly sure we count as a Constitutional Monarchy not Constitutional Republic with how presidents work, as I state in small text. I am however perfectly aware we aren't actually a democracy, however for the purposes of this discussion we are close enough in my opinion, and it represents the spirit of the law better then the rather vague area 'constitutional monarchy'.

Look at the past. The economic crisis. What did Americans do? Pretty much nothing. A handful of OWS protests, but that's about it.

This - the slow but steady erosion of civil liberties and everything the US purports to stand for? Nothing again. People are not considering the implications of what is going on, and it's consequences.

There are a ton of other issues, from the state of US education and healthcare (declining relative to the rest of the world), to the nation's infrastructure. And most people ... did nothing.

So where are these people because I haven't met one yet. Every single person I know is outraged with the exception of one die-hard Obama supporter who thinks he can do no evil and wont listen to anything to the contrary.

That's because we all interact with people like us. Of a similar mentality, who have a similar outlook.

Look at this forum for example. We are probably mostly of a similar age group, generally support civil liberty, and are generally well informed about science and technology - the US public by contrast is not.

So where are these people because I haven't met one yet. Every single person I know is outraged with the exception of one die-hard Obama supporter who thinks he can do no evil and wont listen to anything to the contrary.

I have met a couple and neither of them had heard of or read 1984 or Brave New World. Most people I have met are outraged, too, and I am pretty sure this 'survey' is a manufactured POS, but if you go read the Washington Post comments section on the same story, you will get really depressed really quickly.

Back about 14 years ago, I tried to talk my dad into getting a computer.He would have none of it. "That's of your generation, he said. I want no part of it." I said why? "You will be living in a beehive. Everything you do. Everywhere you go. Everyone you talk to, all of your finances and records will be known and accessible at the touch of a button.. I want no part of it."

At the time, I thought it was all hyperbole. It's not. I'm seeing it today.Oh by the way, he had a top secret security clearance.He never talked about what he did. But I'm strongly suspecting that even back then, they were projecting capabilities. And he was repulsed by what he learned.

The police could prevent burglaries by stationing a cop in every house, too. All for the common good. Or they could provide universal inhouse camera surveillance. Problem is, I don't want a cop or a camera in my house. Or my backyard. I've given a lot of thought these past few days to a Ben Franklin quote: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

It's interesting that young people are more concerned about this than older people, when younger people generally are more willing to share information in other contexts. I imagine the difference is that young people trust government less.

As for the comparison with the IRS scandal, I suspect that if polled, even fewer people care about that.

Before spouting nonsense you might want to know what you are talking about, we ARE NOT a Democracy, we are a Constitutional Republic, but the Left choose to ignore that, they choose to play this majority rules lie instead

Our constitutional republicanism is a subset of "democracy," not a wholly separate type of government.

Look at the past. The economic crisis. What did Americans do? Pretty much nothing. A handful of OWS protests, but that's about it.

This - the slow but steady erosion of civil liberties and everything the US purports to stand for? Nothing again. People are not considering the implications of what is going on, and it's consequences.

There are a ton of other issues, from the state of US education and healthcare (declining relative to the rest of the world), to the nation's infrastructure. And most people ... did nothing.

So where are these people because I haven't met one yet. Every single person I know is outraged with the exception of one die-hard Obama supporter who thinks he can do no evil and wont listen to anything to the contrary.

That's because we all interact with people like us. Of a similar mentality, who have a similar outlook.

Look at this forum for example. We are probably mostly of a similar age group, generally support civil liberty, and are generally well informed about science and technology - the US public by contrast is not.

We are a civilization in decline. Anyone steps back and looks at what's been going on this past quarter century would realize that.The British had their time we have ours -the next century will belong to the Chinese.If you find this offensive well, sorry.